The need for more convenient, intuitive and portable input devices increases, as computers and other electronic devices become more prevalent in our everyday life. A pointing device is one type of input device that is commonly used for interaction with computers and other electronic devices that are associated with electronic displays. Known pointing devices and machine controlling mechanisms include an electronic mouse, a trackball, a pointing stick and touchpad, a touch screen and others. Known pointing devices are used to control a location and/or movement of a cursor displayed on the associated electronic display. Pointing devices may also convey commands, e.g. location specific commands, by activating switches on the pointing device.
In some instances there is a need to control electronic devices from a distance, in which case the user cannot touch the device. Some examples of these instances are watching TV, watching video on a PC, etc. One solution used in these cases is a remote control device. Recently, human gesturing, such as hand gesturing, has been suggested as a user interface input tool, which can be used even at a distance from the controlled device. Typically, a hand gesture is detected by a camera and is translated into a specific command.
In the field of computer vision based control, separating the hand from the background, for example, from other moving objects in the background, is a yet unanswered challenge.